October 13/01 8:34 am - Junior Men RR Story

Posted by Editor on 10/13/01

2001 Road World Cycling Championships Lisbon, PortugalThis report made possible through the sponsorship of CompuTrainer and Peak Centre

Oleksandr Kvachuk of the Ukraine has traded in his silver medal from the time trial for a world champion's rainbow jersey in the junior men's 121 kilometre road race. Niels Scheuneman (Ned) took silver and Mathieu Perget (Fra) bronze. Top Canadian finisher was Jean-Sebastien Maheu of Montreal in 20th, followed by Marc Bomhof (Lethbridge, AB) in 22nd place.

The 10 lap race was marred with crashes; the first major one occurring towards the end of the first lap. Bomhof and Maheu avoided that one, but the rest of the Canadians weren't so lucky. Ryan Roth, Cameron Evans and Warren Tilbrook all got caught in it, but only Roth was able to reconnect with the main bunch. Tilbrook dropped out shortly afterwards, and Evans rode with a small group that finished nearly 12 minutes down.

Roth wasn't done with his bad luck - he went down again in the feedzone on the third lap (and got back on), and then at the bottom of the first climb on the sixth lap. After this third crash he chased for a while before finishing with a chase group, 16:39 down.

At the front of the race, a small group of 6 went away on the third lap - Matti Brechell (Den), Bartosz Kolendo (Pol), Mathieu Claude (Fra), Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Esp), Norbert Poels (Ned) and Stanislav Belov (Rus). The gap reached a maximum of 1:40 before the peloton began to reel them in, finally catching them on the 8th lap.

Immediately another group of four went clear, including Kvachuk. The peloton split in the chase, with Maheu in the front section and Bomhof behind. Three of the four leaders were caught, but Kvachuk motored away. A small group of 7 did break off the front of the peloton, but the Ukrainian was already a minute up and pulling away to solo in 1:01 ahead of the chase group, and 1:07 ahead of the peloton (which had come back together by the ninth lap).

Maheu was unlucky enough to go down in a crash on the eighth lap. "I crashed on the small climb. I chased and recaught them on the second hill, but then Kvachuk attacked and I was not strong enough to follow. I followed a couple of other attacks, but they didn't work, so I stayed in the pack to save my legs for the sprint. A French rider led the sprint out , but I was caught behind some slower riders at the end. It was disappointing since I was hoping for a top-10 place."

Bomhof, attending his first road worlds, was the only Canadian to avoid crashes. "I was always really close to the crash, but managed to roll through. There were a lot of crashes in this race! In the first big crash someone fell into me but I managed to get through. It was my goal to come here and finish in the top-30. I was boxed in a bit in the sprint, but I feel good about my ride."